Barriers facing Women and Minority Faculty in STEM

1. Barriers facing Women and Minority Faculty in STEM 1

2. Why Women STEM Faculty Matter • Having a female professor has a positive effect on female students' : • performance in math and science classes • their likelihood of taking future math and science courses • their likelihood of graduating with a math, science or engineering degree • These effects are largest for female students whose SAT math scores are in the top 5% Carrell, Page, & West, Sex and Science: How Professor Gender Perpetuates the Gender Gap, NBER Research Papers, 2009

3. Why So Slow? Why So Few? Myth: Since many of the problems encountered by female faculty are minor, emphasis on remedies to improve the climate is an over-reaction. Fact : Over time, small disadvantages accumulate into significant ones that have large impacts on career success and satisfaction. 3

4. Social Psychology of Gender • Implicit bias • Critical mass • Schemas about parenthood • Accumulation of disadvantage

5. Implicit Bias Source: U Michigan ADVANCE STRIDE

6. What are Gender Schemas? • Non-conscious hypotheses about sex differences that guide everyone’s perceptions and behaviors • Schemas are expectations or stereotypes that define “average” members of a group. For example, • Men are instrumental, task-oriented, competent • Women are nurturing, emotional, and care about relationships • Both men and women have the same schemas Source: Virgina Valian, 1998, Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women, MIT Press 6

7. Applicant Packages • When evaluating identical application packages, male and female University psychology professors preferred 2:1 to hire “Brian” over “Karen” as an assistant professor. • When evaluating a more experienced record (at the point of promotion to tenure), reservations were expressed four times more often when the name was female Brian Karen Steinpreis, Anders, & Ritzke, 1999. The Impact of Gender on the Review of the Curricula Vitae of Job Applicants and Tenure Candidates: A National Empirical Study, Sex Roles, Vol. 41, Nos. 7/8, 509-528.

8. First Authorships • After Behavioral Ecology instituted double-blind reviews in 2000, the proportion of female first authors increased significantly during 2002-07 as compared with 1995-2000 • No such shiftsoccurred over the same time period in another journal with a similar subject matter and impact factor - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, or with 4 out 5 other ecology and evolutionary biology journals Budden, A. E., Tregenza, T., Aarssen, L., et al.2008. Double-blind review favours increased representation of female authors. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 23: 4–6.

9. Postdoc Fellowship Applications Women applying for a post- doctoral fellowship had to be 2.5 times more productive to receive the same reviewer rating asthe average male applicant. Wenneras & Wold, 1997, Nepotism and sexism in peer-review, Nature, 387, 341-343 • Other Similar findings: • USA/GAO report on Peer Review in Federal Agency Grant Selection (1994) • European Molecular Biology Organization Reports (2001) • NIH Pioneer Awards: Journal of Women’s Health (2005) & Nature (August 2006)

10. Recommendation Letters for Medical School Faculty Applicants • Letters of recommendation for male successful medical school faculty applicants • were longer and • had more references to their CV, publications, patients and colleague • Letters for women successful medical school faculty applicants • were shorter, and • had more references to personal life • had more “doubt-raisers”- hedges, qualifiers, and faint praise Trix, Frances. & Psenka, Carolyn. (2003). Exploring the color of glass: Letters of recommendation for female and male medical faculty. Discourse & Society, 14(2), 191–220.

11. Recommendations of Psychology Faculty Applicants Letters of recommendation for female Psychology faculty applicants (as compared with letters for males to the same department) contained • significantly more words that were communal (affectionate, helpful, kind, sympathetic, sensitive, nurturing, agreeable, caring) • significantly less words that were agentic (assertive, confident, aggressive, ambitious, dominant, forceful, intellectual) • significantly more words that were social-communal (related to family relationships) • significantly more words that were related to the physical body (arms, breast, eyes, face, hips, hair, muscle, nails, pregnancy, mouth) Madera, Juan M., Hebl, Michelle R. & Martin, Randi C. 2009. Gender and letters of recommendation for academia: Agentic and communal differences, Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(6), 1591–1599.

12. Social-Communal Words per Letter (mention of family relationships) P<0.01; results of MANCOVA controlling for years in graduate school, N of publications, honors, N of postdoc years, N of courses taught, and type of position Source: Rice University ADVANCE program

13. Critical Mass • If women are more than 30% of the applicant pool they are judged more positively than if they are 25% or less of the pool • When women make up more than a third of a work group they are judged more positively Heilman & Stopeck (1985) Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 379-388; Heilman (1980) Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 26, 386-395

14. Appointments of Women Chaired Professors in S&E Significant relationship between the number of women on an appointment committee and the gender of the candidate appointed (7 Dutch Universities, 1999-2003) Van den Brink, 2010, Behind the Scenes of Science: Gender Practices in the Recruitment and Selection of Professors in the Netherlands

15. More Women in Applicant Pools Leads to Greater Diversity in Hiring Analyses of S&E applicant pools at two research universities showed • A statistically significant linear relationship exists between the percent of female and URM applicants in the candidate pool and their degree of inclusion on the short list. • The level of representation of female and URM applicants on the short list is associated with the likelihood of hiring a female or URM candidate. • Female faculty hires occurred more frequently when there were two or more females on the short list • The majority of Native American, African-American, and “race-unknown” candidates were hired when there were more females on the short list. Bilimoria & Buch, 2010, The Search is On, Change, (December ) 27-32

16. Schemas about Parenthood When evaluating identical applications: • In a lab study: – Mothers were less likely to be recommended for hire, promotion, and management, and were offered lower starting salaries than non-mothers – Evaluators rated mothers as less competent and committed to paid work than non-mothers – Fathers were seen as more committed to paid work and offered higher starting salaries than non-fathers • In a field study: – Prospective employers called mothers back about half as often as non-mothers – Fathers were not disadvantaged in the hiring process Correll, Benard and Paik (2007) Getting a job: Is there a motherhood penalty?American Journal of Sociology, 112 (5), 1297-1338.

17. Different Family Situations of Women and Men STEM Faculty Source: Joan Herbers, President, AWIS, 2010

18. Leaks in the Pipeline for STEM Women Faculty Goulden, Frasch & Mason, Staying Competitive: Patching America’s Leaky Pipeline in the Sciences, 2009.

19. Bias Avoidance • Academic women marry at lower rates • Academic women are childless at higher rates • Academic women report having fewer children than they would like • Academic women do not take advantage of policies (such as tenure clock extension) Drago, Robert W. Striking a Balance: Work, Family, Life, 2007

20. Accumulation of Disadvantage • Very small differences in treatment can have major consequences as they accumulate • Like interest on capital, advantages accrue. Like interest on debt, disadvantages accrue • “Mountains are molehills piled one on top of the other” Valian, Virginia, Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women, 1998

21. Lowered success rate Accumulation of disadvantage Performance is underestimated Solo status/Lack of critical mass Evaluation bias Schemas If We Do Not Actively Intervene, The Cycle Reproduces Itself Inertia Source: U of Michigan ADVANCE STRIDE

22. Molehills Become Mountains Any one slight may seem minor but small imbalances and disadvantages accrue and accumulate into a mountain of disadvantage. “Mountains are molehills piled one on top of the other” Valian, 1998, Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women, MIT Press 22

23. We view ourselves as fair and impartial We believe advancement is merit-based We admire the competence of some women, which seems to show that we are free of gender bias Some women, though the exception, make it to the top, appearing to demonstrate that evaluations are basically fair and that truly capable women succeed It is hard to remember that an exception is just that: an atypical event, and therefore actually evidence that the norm is different How We Can Be Unaware of Our Biases Source: Virginia Valian, 1998, Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women, MIT Press 23

24. Leading For Change Influencing climate Improving leadership (formal and informal) Improving search and recruitment practices

25. Organizational Climate Patterns of interactions and behaviors among group members (Schein, 1992) The shared assumptions, norms, practices, processes, structure, physical space layout, stories, and formal statements employed by group members (O’Reilly,1996) An organization's climate is reflected in its structures, policies, and practices; the demographics of its membership; the attitudes and values of its members and leaders; and the quality of personal interactions (UW-Madison, 2002). 25

26. Aspects of Gender Equity Climate • Compliance Conformity in fulfilling federal, state or local government requirements, AA, EEOC • Diversity Increasing the representation of diverse groups • Equity Removing the barriers to organizational competition, thus allowing people who are “different” to compete equitably. • Inclusion Leveraging the unique backgrounds and experience of all employees to achieve organizational goals and objectives. In an inclusive organization climate, employees’ skills and talents are recognized, used effectively, valued, and help drive organizational success Modified from The Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s Creating Pathways to Diversity, 2006 26

27. Characteristics of Environments That Enable Gender Equity and Inclusion • A critical mass of women at all levels and in leadership • Freedom from stereotyping about women’s and men’s roles and occupations • Work conditions (e.g., job titles, work schedules, policies, physical environment) that include and value both men and women • Opportunities for reward and advancement based on qualifications, performance and talent, not gender • Work structures and cultural norms that support positive relations between men and women • Work policies and structures that support work-life integrationModified from McLean, D. (2003) 27

28. Improving Departmental Climate IntegrativeLeadership ParticipativeDepartmental Activities Inclusive Science Identity Open Information & Decision Processes Productive and Inclusive Science Culture Constructive Interactions Bilimoria & Jordan (2005). Full report available at: http://www.case.edu/provost/ideal/doc/AGoodPlaceToDoScience.pdf 28

29. A Study of Academic Job Satisfaction at CWRU Path Coefficients for Female Faculty Members (n=100) • Selected Findings • Female faculty perceive that institutional leadership is more strongly related to providing internal relational supports than academic resources. Male faculty perceive that institutional leadership is more strongly related to providing academic resources. • The path from institutional mentoring to relational supports was significant for both men and women, but the strength of the relationship was almost double for women. • While job satisfaction for male faculty arises equally from academic resources and relational supports, job satisfaction for female faculty derives twice as much from internal relational supports Path Coefficients for Male Faculty Members (n=148) Source: Bilimoria, Perry, Liang, Stoller, Higgins, & Taylor (2006). Journal of Technology Transfer, 32, 3: 355-365. 29

30. Leadership Influences Six Key Factors of the Work Environment • Clarity –about mission and values • Commitment –to a common purpose • Flexibility –to adapt and innovate unencumbered by red tape • Responsibility –to share in the necessary tasks • Standards –levels that people set and aspire to • Rewards –appropriate and aligned with feedback Source: “Leadership That Gets Results”, Daniel Goleman, Harvard Business Review, March-April 2000 30

31. Six Distinctive Leadership Styles Coercive Toward compliance “Do what I tell you” For crisis (mostly negative) Authoritative Toward vision “Come with me” For new vision (positive) Affiliative Toward harmony “People come first” For stressful situation (positive) Democratic Toward participation “What do you think?” To build buy in (positive) Pacesetting Toward self-direction “Do as I do, now” To get quick results (mostly negative) Coaching toward people development “Try this” Develop strengths (positive) “Leadership That Gets Results”, Daniel Goleman, Harvard Business Review March-April 2000

32. Improving Search & Recruitment • Search committee training: institutional commitment, bias awareness, resources & tools • Proactive, broad, on-going, inclusive searches • Accountable and aligned search processes Bilimoria, D. & Buch, K.K. The Search is On: Engendering Faculty Diversity Through More Effective Search and Recruitment, Change, July/August 2010 32

33. References • Ahearn, K. K., Ferris, G. R., Hochwarter, W. A., Douglas, C., & Ammeter, A. P. (2004). Leader political skill and team performance. Journal of Management, 30, 309–327. • Forret, M. L., & Dougherty, T. W. (2001). Correlates of networking behavior for managerial and professional employees. Group and Organization Management, 26, 283–311.